Thursday, July 26, 2012
Litmus Test for Leadership
9:43 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By
Rav Moshe Sternbuch
power of speech
“Moshe spoke
to the heads of the tribes of the Bnei Yiroel, saying, “This is the thing that Hashem
has commanded” (30:2).
Only in this
section dealing with nedorim and in the one dealing with shechutei
chutz (korbanos slaughtered outside the confines of the Bais
Hamikdosh) does it say, “This is the thing.”
Generally
speaking, Moshe Rabbeinu was taught the Torah by Hashem briefly, but he
conveyed it to the heads of the shevotim in a much more detailed
fashion. Only in these two sections did Moshe convey what he had been taught by
Hashem to the heads of the shevotim in exactly the same concise manner
in which he had heard it, and it was only the heads of the shevotim who
explained the halachos of these two sections to the rest of the nation
more elaborately.
Nedorim
teach us about the immense power of speech. Through them, a person can prohibit
certain actions on himself, giving them a force equivalent to an absolute Torah
prohibition, which, in certain circumstances, he cannot retract. Similarly, by
sanctifying an animal with his mouth, he becomes liable to koreis if he
proceeds to profane his statement by slaughtering the animal outside the Bais
Hamikdosh. In everyday life, too, life and death are in the power of the
tongue.
By adding not
even one word in his speech to the heads of the shevotim regarding these
halochos pertaining to speech, Moshe Rabbeinu was emphasizing how
careful we have to be not to speak more than necessary, and to use our ability
to speak, which is the most important attribute that distinguishes us from the
animals, wisely and with circumspection.
oaths to state the truth
The Sifri
states that one should not take an oath even to confirm the truth, and that if
one does so, it is tantamount to swearing about a lie. How are we to can
understand this?
The posuk
states, “You shall fear Hashem, your G-d, worship Him, and cleave to Him and
swear by His Name” (Devorim 10:20). Only someone who fears Hashem
and keeps his promises to serve Him properly can swear by His Name, since he
can claim that just like I do not deceive Hashem, so will I not swear falsely
now. However, since most of us do not keep our promises to Hashem to behave the
way we should, and therefore cannot make such a claim, we should refrain from
taking an oath even to declare the truth.
Fear of fire
“And Hashem
will forgive her” (30:6).
Rashi brings
the Gemara (Nazir 23a) that this refers to a woman who made a vow
to become a nozir and her husband heard the vow and annulled it without
her knowledge. She then transgressed her vow by drinking wine or coming into
contact with a dead person. This woman requires forgiveness, even though, in
reality, her vow had been annulled. The Gemara (Kiddushin 81b)
says that Rabi Akiva cried when he reached this posuk, saying that if
the Torah says that someone who intends to eat pork and inadvertently eats
kosher meat requires atonement, then if someone who intends to eat pork and in
fact does so, how are much more so does he require atonement?
What point regarding intentional sins did
Rabi Akiva become aware of?
Whenever
someone commits a sin, aside from the damage caused by transgressing the word
of Hashem, he also sins through his very thoughts and desires to commit a sin,
which, in and of themselves, are considered to be a great sin requiring
forgiveness. The person who inadvertently ate kosher meat did not perform any
sinful act, but he still requires atonement for his evil intention to eat chazer.
Rabi Akiva
began to realize that as part of our atonement for intentional sins too, it is
not sufficient to just undertake to refrain from that sin in the future. Rather,
we must aspire to uproot our desire to sin altogether to the point where we no
longer feel any such desire. Just like a person instinctively fears fire and is
afraid to even approach it, so should a person feel towards committing a sin or
even coming close to doing so.
annual judgment
“He shall
bear her iniquity” (30:16).
This refers to
the opposite situation, where a husband pretends to annul his wife's vow after
having upheld it. He only tells his wife about the annulment, which in reality
had no effect. The wife then acts as if her vow had actually been annulled. The
posuk tells us that the husband bears complete responsibility for his
wife's inadvertent sins committed as a result of his deceit. The Sifri adds that this teaches
us that anyone who causes another person to stumble receives the punishment for
that other person's actions, bearing their iniquity as if they themselves had
actually committed it.
All the more
so if someone assists or is instrumental in the performance of another person's
mitzvos. It is considered as if he himself performed those mitzvos,
and he has a share in the reward for those actions. This is yet another
incentive for getting involved in outreach work.
Similarly, a
person is judged every year on the day of his death. Although a person is
judged immediately after he dies, this process is repeated on an annual basis.
If the deceased caused other people to sin during his lifetime, he is judged
every year for those actions and their ramifications since he died. If he
caused others to perform mitzvos and good deeds during his lifetime, his
soul becomes elevated on his annual judgment due to all the actions performed
in the meantime by those people, and by others as a result, in a never-ending
chain of events. The yahrtzeit of a tzaddik is considered to be a
festive occasion (hilula), because the assumption is that he only had a
positive influence on other people while he was alive, and we celebrate the
further elevation of his soul due to all the actions performed since his petirah.
Litmus test for Jewish leaders
“From the
thousands of Yisroel one thousand was given over for each tribe, twelve
thousand armed for battle” (31:6). Rashi: “This indicates
the virtues of Jewish shepherds [leaders] - how cherished they were by the
Jews. Before they had heard of his death, it says, ‘Just a little
longer and they will stone me,’ but as soon as they heard that Moshe’s
death was contingent upon the revenge against Midyan, they refused to go, until
they were given over against their will.
The Satmar Rov,
Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l, asked two questions on this Sifri
cited by Rashi. Firstly, it should say that this indicates the virtues
of the Jews, not of their leaders. Secondly, how can the Medrash compare these two pesukim? “Just a little longer and they will stone me” refers to
the statement by the Eirev Rav as opposed to the refusal by the people
to hasten the death of Moshe.
The answer is
that the sign of a true Jewish leader is when the wicked hate him, because he
rebukes them for their deeds, and the righteous love him for his saintly
character and loving rebuke. If the wicked praise him, that should make him
worry about whether he is performing his job properly. Here, too, the Eirev
Eav despised Moshe Rabbeinu
so much that he was worried that they would stone him, but the majority of the
nation loved and respected him so much that they were unwilling to hasten his
demise by engaging Midyan in a battle. The fact that the wicked hated him
indicated that he was doing what he had to well.
Action before intellect
“A thousand
from each tribe” (31:6).
The Medrash
says that none of the tzaddikim who were sent to the war against Midyan
put on their tefillin shel rosh before their tefillin shel yad. The
tefillin shel rosh symbolizes the dedication of our minds to Hashem,
whereas the tefillin shel yad symbolizes
our service of Hashem through active mitzvos. Moshe Rabbeinu was not interested in
philosophers with a tenuous connection to Torah observance.
We, too, must keep the mitzvos because Hashem commanded us to, even if we do not comprehend the
reasons for them. Only once we have become punctilious about our mitzvah observance should we start delving into their profound reasons and
endeavor to develop our devotion to Hashem through those mitzvos.
For this reason, too, someone who puts on
only tefillin shel yad has fulfilled the mitzvah of tefillin, but
someone who puts on only tefillin
shel rosh has not fulfilled
the mitzvah properly. The emphasis is always on naaseh¸ the active unquestioning performance of mitzvos before nishma,
intellectualizing, and even before emotional devotion.
Moshe Rabbeinu
wanted only first-rate tzaddikim who would perform the Divine
commandment of avenging ourselves against Midyan, without wondering about the
ethical justification for destroying the men, women and boys of a whole nation.
He wanted people who subjugated their intellect to the Divine Will.
mitzvas yishuv Eretz Yisroel
“And you
shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein” (33:53).
The
commandment to dwell in Eretz Yisroel is
made conditional on driving out not only idolatrous inhabitants, but also
idolatry. Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt”l
was once asked why he did not call for
all the Jews in the Diaspora to come and live in Eretz Yisroel in
order to fulfill the important mitzvah of yishuv Eretz Yisroel.
He replied that we can learn from the
precedent of the mitzvah of milah, which is not less important than mitzvas yishuv Eretz Yisroel. After
all, it even overrides Shabbos, and yet if someone had two sons who died as
a result of the performance of this mitzvah, the third son is not circumcised.
Similarly, concluded Rav Sonnenfeld, unfortunately, many people suffer a
spiritual death, which is worse than physical death, due to the heretical
atmosphere prevalent in Eretz Yisroel, and so he cannot encourage people to come and live here, because a
person is not obligated to expose himself to such a danger, and he must wait to
fulfill this mitzvah until he is certain that no danger will be
posed to his spiritual future or that of his family as a result of living here.
Positive environments
“Among the
cities you shall give to the Levi’im shall be six cities of refuge” (35:6).
The arei
miklot, cities of refuge, were meant to be places where those who had
unintentionally killed someone were forced to spend time away from their family
and friends to determine what might have led to this terrible event, to
reassess their spiritual status, and to repent. The cities populated by the Levi’im were the most appropriate ones to house the
arei miklot, because the Levi’im, who dedicated their lives to serving Hashem and instructing others how
to do so, were likely to have the best influence on the inadvertent murderers.
Similarly, baalei
teshuvah should move away from
their friends and former environment and relocate to places of Torah, where they
can rejuvenate themselves spiritually. This process of rejuvenation is likely
to be facilitated by absorbing all the positive things in their new surroundings.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment